moss sunday.

I launched @ daybreak from near the main ramp. Since mooch was eating cinnamon
rolls in monterey and Chuck was sleeping in the east bay  , I launched alone.
The launch turned out to be pretty much cake.

My plan was to go out see the boats, go left a little, and mooch 150 feet down based
on stuarts recomendation and I think that was a good plan. the VHF indicated that
the trollers on the outside were doing the best, but that was not an option for me.

All my equipment worked well and there I was ready to catch my first salmon.

woo-hoo.

Unfortunately the strong southeast wind ruined my mooching plan too.
I got out there and dropped my anchovy 220 pulls out
with 6 oz of weight and my line was pretty much sideways. Due to the heavy chop coming
from land and the swell coming from sea, I did not deploy the drift sock, even tho that
was my only hope. Also I was pretty sure the paddle back would be hard since it felt like
15 knots of east wind out there. basically I wussed a little at that point.
Since snot was still pouring from one nostril and I was still coughing from
the flu I feel okay with my wimpiness today.

The paddle back to the harbour was pretty much brutal due to the 15 knot wind in my face.
maybe later if it switched sw it would be okay, but I was a
little worried about being blown somewhere between the farallons and hawaii. I did not want to
be rescued on my very first salmon attempt.  The pride and ego dent would be too big.
I started paddling for the barn around 8:45 and made it back around 10:30. almost non-stop
fairly brisk paddling.

Amazingly on the way back in, with my wetsuit hood up, my wind gear over my
wetsuit, I meet a guy in shorts with a red visor and very white teeth. Yep, it
is THE SAVAGE.   .  hopefully he makes it back and does not wash
up in hawaii. If anybody can catch a fish or two out there that day, it would
be freddie.

I looked for chuckE and Alien behind him but didn't see them.

Okay, at least I feel good for trying and can wait more patiently for my next chance!

Best,

J

Alone, sick, and big water = good reason to abort. The fish aren't going anywhere. Get em' next time.

Yep,
The Savage is nuts.  Had dinner with him last night and right now his girlfriend and kids are at my house.  She/we are all waiting to hear his report.

John,
Sorry to hear that the day was bad.

I called one of my dad's friends today.  7 guys on their boat got 11 fish, 2 of which went 13lbs dressed.  At 9 am, they only had 2 fish, fishing between Moss and Mulligan.  Then, they ran into a decent bite off the Sand Plant (between Mulligan and Ft Ord).  Fished in 240 ft of water, about 120feet down.
Two other boats on their dock both had nothing and one other boat had 2. 

They were lucky to land 11 and lost a couple.

Stuart

Glad you made it back...Freddie is NUTS!

Nice report, and try  Gald you made it back..

Craigh

I was out by Moss today as well, on the Becky Ann.  Started at Mulligan's then moved up to the south side of Moss Canyon.  5 guys fishing on the boat for 7 fish total.

Happy to say that 3 of them were caught by me, hee hee.   8, 13 and 15 pounds, approx.  Fishing from a 30 foot boat is easy!  lol  All fish caught between 150-180 pulls down.

Saw two yakkers out there by moss in the afternoon, but never got close enough to say hello.  Imagine this was Fred? 

It was a pretty slow bit all around with most boats averaging less than a fish per rod and a few boats a bit more than a fish per rod, accordingto the reports I've seen so far.

I heard the wind died down a bit after I bailed     
and freddie was able to work some of his magic,   ,
we need a special emoticon with a red visor and hollywood smile.

ChuckE and Alien are not exactly fishing newbs like me so their chances are pretty good too, looking forward
to the news there.

If I get another few chances I think I will be able to cash in as long as I can make a call to 'the quarterback',
stu, for advice. Unlikely I'll have to face an offshore wind stronger than that anytime soon,
next time I will deploy the drift chute and mooch for the fences.

Good work scallen, you low-down cheater,  .

jmairey you get the ribbon today for even paddling out in the slop....and with the flu?   Then offshore winds and figuring the longer you drift, the more life-threatening the possible return trip would be??  You absolutely made the correct decision to Bail.

I'd say any fish  counts at least 10X when caught from the yak.  It really looked Ok in early afternoon right in front of Moss.

Early AM was snot city.  Hope the season lasts long enough for me to get out at moss again.  I'm off to the Grand Canyon next week with the family on Spring Break. With any luck there will still be a season when i return in a week........

 

Wow, sounds like a great adventure.  Glad you made it.

John-
Good to hear that you made it in. Man, I stuck it out as long as I could and I waited about 10 extra minutes. I was in the shit. I fished as long as I could and headed in looking for Chuck and Alex. I started to worry a bit after about 20 minutes of hard paddling... I was still basically in the same place. That sucked big time. I motored through and found Chuck and Alex way in on the inside at about 1030 or so. That paddle killed me. Mooched deep for a bit and picked one little guy up at... get this... 300 ft. I had all of my spectra out and was looking at my mono backing. A short while later, Chuck came by and we fished together... BAM. Got another one. This one was at about 250'. The fish were deep. The wind and swells layed down nicely and we decided to paddle back out. Lots of hook ups within the fleet... but, no more love for us. I did get one more monster hit that didn't stick... but that was about it. Chuck got checked by a DFG zodiac though. We basically called it quits then. Good thing too... we just got back into the harbor just at is starts to rain. That was one hell of a paddle back. According to Chuck's gps... we paddled 14 miles today. Lots of work for two little fish. My little guy is 24" and the bigger one is 30". Sucks when you have to give salmon size in inches instead of lbs... but, on a day like today... I'll take'm any way I can get them. All in all... a pretty slow day all around. Hopefully, we can hook up next time and maybe Chuck won't over sleep. Get better soon... This season may be a quick one.

Seabreeze-
Congrats on that monster but. That'll put you in the running.  Mooch met up with us at Moss and we checked it out. Also, I BIG thank you to you. I filleted that sucker up. Nice fat fillets too. I haven't had any but in a long time. I'm so looking forward to dinner tomorrow. Thanks again...

Freddie Savage

It was great that we all could share.

So, we need to beat 30 inches?  Wow.  I think I'll just be going for a keeper then this weekend.......

No, I only tried that for trout.

I am sticking to stu's advice for this summer, but might try my "double" deep six for trolling.